The Alternate Hook Up
by How2Write
Summary: A different version of how Jessie and Katie could have ended up together during Season Three.
1. Part One

**Part One**

"Look, I know you and Jessie aren't that close, but is there any chance you might know why she is being so distant lately?"

"I don't know, the stuff with her mom has been hard on her. Maybe she figures you'll bring it up and she doesn't feel like talking about it."

"Are you sure that's all it could be?"

"Well," Grace begins, thinking back to her conversation with Jessie in the kitchen the day before,"nevermind, I think you should ask her yourself."

"I tried before class today, but she avoided answering me. What were you going to say?"

Grace looks around in the halls, sees they are alone, and takes a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, it might be my fault. I thought she knew."

"Knew what?" Katie asks, confused.

Grace looks away, slightly embarrassed.

"Yesterday, she mentioned the GSA meeting...and I brought you up."

A look of understanding appears on Katie's face.

"Oh no...I should have told her sooner. This isn't your fault. Do you know when she will be home from visiting her mom?"

"Probably around six, but that isn't the best time to talk to Jessie. She's usually upset after the visits and her dad is always worried because she'll refuse to eat dinner too."

"Okay, well thanks, Grace. I'll try calling first. See ya."

At a quarter to seven that evening the phone rings in the Sammler/Manning home.

Jessie is at the table and eating dinner, to everyone's surprise, including Grace who answers the call.

"Jessie, it's for you."

Jessie puts her fork down and stands up to retrieve the phone.

"Alright, who is it?"

"Katie..."

Grace sees the change in expression on Jessie's face upon hearing Katie's name, but hands her the phone before she has the chance to refuse it. She delays bringing it to her ear, lifting it slowly.

"Hello?"

"Hey Billie!" Katie replies with her usual pep.

Jessie isn't sure what to say and Katie notices the silence.

"Would you mind if I came over?"

Jessie looks down at her feet, trying to stay calm. She can't keep avoiding Katie because of a rumor...even if it might be true. Is that even the real reason she's avoiding her? Maybe she's scared for another reason.

"No, that'd be fine."

"Alright, I'll see you in a few."

Jessie hangs up the phone and returns to the table where her dinner plate is still half full. She empties what is left into the trash and covers it tactfully so nobody will question her later. Katie's house is not a long drive away so she walks into the living room, planning to sit on the couch to wait. Grace walks in, holding a book.

"That was a short phone call," Grace comments, sitting down and opening the book.

"Katie's coming over," Jessie replies, hearing a car outside and seeing its headlights.

"Good Luck," Grace offers, changing her attention to her reading assignment.

Jessie shrugs off Grace's statement as she hears a knock on the door, although she is curious about it.

She opens the door and invites Katie inside. Katie begins to walk towards the living room but Jessie redirects her to the attic that was converted into her bedroom. Jessie sits on her bed while Katie stays standing.

"You can sit down..." Jessie invites tentatively.

Katie is reluctant, but gives in.

"I'm sorry," Katie begins, looking directly into Jessie's eyes.

"For what?" Jessie asks, unsure what she is apologizing for exactly.

"Grace was telling the truth. I am gay...and I shouldn't have let you find out from someone else."

Jessie breaks their eye contact while trying to calm her mind down.

"If you don't want to be seen with me anymore..."

Jessie shakes her head and looks up as she wipes away a tear.

"No, I don't have a problem with it, with you. I never want us to not be friends. You're really important to me...I shouldn't have acted like such a jerk."

"I'm not mad at you, Billie. You're really important to me too...which is why it was stupid for me to not say anything. When Sarah started giving you trouble, that's when I wish I could have told you."

"So Grace was right about that too, you were in love with Sarah?"

"No, I didn't love her, but she was my girlfriend. I broke up with her after the play."

"Oh my god. It makes so much more sense now. She thought that..."

"I told her about you and Tad. Sarah has all these conspiracy theories though. Once she gets something in her head it's a lost cause to send in the reel to fish it out."

"Maybe she had this one pegged," Jessie whispers.

"What do you mean?"

"I never liked Tad. Well, I thought I did...and I was trying...before he kissed me."

"I knew you didn't seem that interested after the party. Maybe I was just using it as an excuse for my benefit, which was easy since he still talked about you."

"Sarah mentioned two other girls. I don't remember their names. She told me you were going to get sick of me, like you were of them..."

"Sarah was my third girlfriend. It's true, none of the relationships lasted long, but she was wrong about you. I feel like there's a lifetime of interesting things we could talk about," Katie explains, a bit nervous that realizing this might mean she feels something for Jessie that can't be reciprocated.

Jessie tries to hold back a blush, looking away just in case. She feels the same way about Katie but doesn't know what it means. There haven't been many close friends in her life so her judgment between what best friends feel and what someone in love feels is blurred.

"Sorry, that sounded kinda creepy, didn't it?" Katie apologizes, fidgeting with a thread on Jessie's comforter.

Jessie turns slightly to get more comfortable, her neck aching from having to twist to face Katie earlier.

"No, or if it is, then I guess we're both equally creepy."

They stare at each other in one of their typical quiet and intimate moments.


	2. Part Two

**Part Two**

Katie breaks the moment and redirects the conversation.

"How's you mom doing?" she asks with sincere concern.

Jessie is a little surprised at the question, but is prompt with her answer.

"She's fine, in fact, she'll be going home tomorrow."

Katie is happy to see Jessie's face light up.

"You're beautiful when you smile," Katie lets slip, disregarding the heaviness her words could have.

"What?"

"Well, not just when you smile, but...," Katie trails off and notices Jessie's worried expression, "...wow I'm being really inappropriate. Forgive me?"

Katie stands up, thinking it would probably be a good idea to leave soon. Jessie has enough reason to worry how recent news could change their friendship without tagging on that there may be other emotions Katie has to work around to avoid extra complications.

When she peers back at Jessie, waiting for a response, she notices a distant look in the younger girl's eyes.

"Billie?"

"Katie, can I ask you something?"

Jessie looks up at Katie seriously.

"Sure, anything," Katie responds, using a tone of casual in her voice that she definitely doesn't feel.

"How did you know that...that you liked girls?"

Jessie moves herself so she is lying on her stomach and propping herself up by the elbows, prepared to hear what Katie has to offer, hoping the question isn't too suspicious.

"It was kinda cliché I guess. There was this party...well two actually. Back in middle school, before I'd ever been on a date, I had the type of friends who got invited to things, so I'd go along with them. This one weekend somebody had absent parents and their older, party-loving brother was supposedly left to babysit. He had better places to be so, being a bunch of curious pre-teens, it was suggested we try seven minutes in heaven."

"Wait, people were playing that back in middle school? What happened to spin the bottle?"

"You're jumping ahead, we played spin the bottle at the next party...their parents were right upstairs."

"Alright, so what happened in the closet?"

"I got chosen to go in with this boy named Ronald. One of my friends had a huge crush on him so I felt guilty enough that I wasn't planning to kiss him, even in the spirit of the game. He didn't waste any time though. I barely had the chance to register that I was having my first kiss before his tongue was pushing its way into my mouth."

"You dealt with it for a whole seven minutes?"

"Yeah, my friends always insisted making out was some amazing experience. I thought maybe I'd adjust and start to like it."

Jessie's nerves are creeping up on her as the story continues. That's the same inner pep talk she had with herself when she wasn't interested in Kissing, or doing anything else, with Tad.

"Anyway, I convinced myself that the seven minutes in hell was Ronald's fault for being a bad kisser, until the next party. We were playing spin the bottle and there were no rules set so if your spin landed on someone of the same sex it was still fair game. It was this girl named Joyce's turn and the bottle ended up pointing at me."

Katie was pacing the floor for a while, but suddenly stops and faces Jessie to end her story.

"Long story short...when she kissed me I felt this twist in my stomach. Joyce achieved something in under ten seconds that Ronald couldn't pull off in seven minutes. It all fell into place for me from there. I mean, there was denial for a while, but it got me to where I am now."

Katie drags a chair from Jessie's desk and sets it in front of the bed, sitting in it and facing her.

"Got any other burning questions, Jess?"

"Just one," Jessie replies, gathering up the courage to act on the idea that has been swirling in her head.

"Okay, shoot..."

"Can I kiss you?"


	3. Part Three

**Part Three**

Katie had been leaning forward in the chair but decides to back up upon hearing Jessie's request.

"You want to kiss me?" Katie asks, verifying that she heard the other girl correctly.

Jessie nods her head timidly.

"I need to know."

All it took were those four words to convince Katie to agree. She had been in that confusing place once before, and putting all potential feelings of her own aside, this was an opportunity to help Jessie in a way nobody else close to her could.

"Go ahead," Katie whispers, leaning forward again to close a large portion of the gap between them.

Jessie scoots forward on the bed and Katie closes her eyes, thinking it might be easier on Jessie if it doesn't feel like she's staring at her. One of Jessie's hands finds the back of Katie's head for support as their lips edge closer, finally finding each other. Katie thought she'd let Jessie do all the work, but she is unable to suppress the urge to kiss back, an action that goes short lived before Jessie pulls away.

When Katie opens her eyes, the look on Jessie's face shows the results quite clearly.

"Are you okay?"

A crooked smile forms on Jessie's lips, the shock disappearing for the most part.

"Even better..."

"Why's that?" Katie inquires, testing how much she can push out in one night, and knowing for sure she wouldn't mind a chance to kiss her Billie again.

Jessie rolls her eyes as she lifts herself into a sitting position and nudges Katie playfully on the shoulder.

"I think you know why."

"No, I really have no idea...enlighten me?" Katie teases back.

"Are you really going to make me say it?"

"Yes, Billie, saying things aloud can be very therapeutic."

"Isn't that what my therapist is for?"

"You're actually going to wait until you see him next week so you can tell him first instead of me?"

"Fine, you win. I'm happy because I now know what a real kiss is supposed to feel like."


End file.
